Moving Lightroom Library

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
May 10, 2026
3 replies
100 views

I run the latest version of Lightroom Classic on an M1 MacBook Pro with 2Tb of memory, about half of which is in use; I want to transfer my library of about 120,000 images that’s just under 5Tb on an external drive to a new, larger external drive. My catalogue is on my desktop. I’d really appreciate having the simple, idiot-proof instructions on how to do this. Thanks!

Correct answer dj_paige

Move the entire folder structure of your photos to the new drive, using your operating system, keeping the folder structure hierarchy and folder names unchanged; this part in bold is critical. Do not move things around inside the folder structure. So if on the old drive, all of your photos are on Drive #1 in folder “My Photos” in its subfolders, then after the move all of your photos should now be on Drive #2 in the folder “My Photos” and its subfolders. Then point the LrC Catalog to read photos from the new external drive, follow these instructions (in particular see Figure 4 and associated text).

D

drtonyb

Legend

@jayheifetzart.com

Can you please show us a screen shot of your Folders panel in LrC?

jayheifetzart.comAuthor

Known Participant

jayheifetzart.comAuthor

Known Participant

BTW, years 2002 and 2003 have also gone missing.

jayheifetzart.comAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed: a simple solution to what I want to do, and heaps of background information that explains variations, warnings, and suggestions. Unspoken but assumed: the catalogue file is fine where it is on the laptop and will be updated when the library is moved to its renamed new home. A 10 out of 10 to you.

dj_paigeCorrect answer

Legend

Move the entire folder structure of your photos to the new drive, using your operating system, keeping the folder structure hierarchy and folder names unchanged; this part in bold is critical. Do not move things around inside the folder structure. So if on the old drive, all of your photos are on Drive #1 in folder “My Photos” in its subfolders, then after the move all of your photos should now be on Drive #2 in the folder “My Photos” and its subfolders. Then point the LrC Catalog to read photos from the new external drive, follow these instructions (in particular see Figure 4 and associated text).

jayheifetzart.comAuthor

Known Participant

Hello again. Now I have created a problem. I thought I’d be able to change the name of my master file on my existing external drive where the drive’s contents are located, but instead, I’ve managed to “lose” all of my subfolders that now appear with ?s. When I tried to reconnect one and then two of the directories with their companion directories on the existing drive (“finding” them on that hard drive, the folders disappeared. In the past when I’ve located one part of a group of missing files, they then all fell into line, but that’s not happening now. I changed the master catalogue name back to its original, and though it now shows that in LR, the problem persists. I reckon I ought to have everything lining up properly on the existing drive before I start a transition to a new drive, yes? Suggestions?

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

You should change the name of a folder inside Lightroom Classic folder panel (right-click on the folder). Then Lightroom does not lose the connection to this renamed folder so your problem does not occur.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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